Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Education

Join the discussion on our Education forum.

Original poster

you know private schools, is it true that if your child is struggling performance wise, they can be booted out?

36 replies

carriedababi · 24/09/2011 22:43

right i know you have to pay to send your child to a private school, and i know our school you have to sit an entrance exam to get in.

ok, fair enough

but what happens if you get your child in, then they are struggling?
can the schools evict the pupils that are not performing?

we are hoping dd will attend our local state school, which is excellent, but over subscribed,and even thought we live in the right catchment area, and she attends a feeder school,it doesn't mean seh will get in, so if dd doesn't get into out local state, we have been considering private for her from senior school.
as the other state schools are dire.

shes just started at a fantastic state primary.

OP posts:
deleting · 24/09/2011 22:46

Surely if they passed the entrance exam, that's it? At ours you wouldn'tbget chucked out, but it's non selective.

basildonbond · 24/09/2011 22:47

Of course they can! And they often do ..

meditrina · 24/09/2011 22:49

This is what I posted on your other thread in Chat:

I have heard that this does happen. But it's done quite gently - in terms of "counselling out", assistance in securing an alternative place at a school they feel will be a better match, and waiving notice periods so you can leave without financial penalty as soon as a new place is secured.

It's not that common though - especially in well established schools - as their selection processes really are looking for a child who will thrive in that school and they are usually right.

Oakmaiden · 24/09/2011 22:50

Depends on the school. Depends on the extent to which the child is struggling.

I can't help feeling that if a child attends a selective, academic and fiercely competitive school (and some of them are!) and struggles academically, then the school is probably not the best place for the child. In which case keeping them there would be fairly pointless.

AChickenCalledKorma · 24/09/2011 22:50

Our local prep school doesn't always offer places at the main site, when they move over from the pre-prep site in Year 2. And I know of a child whose parents were completely shocked when the school told them he wouldn't get a place and would have to go elsewhere.

hiccymapops · 24/09/2011 22:51

Depends on the school.

reallytired · 24/09/2011 22:51

Many private schools kick out underachieving/ lazy kids, especially before public exams. However a lot of private schools put the welfare of the children before league tables.

However some state schools kick out children in the sixth form who muck about or under perform in exams.

Doodlez · 24/09/2011 22:51

Our school would work like mad with the child to help them catch up/keep up. If all had been done and still the child was struggling, you could probably bank on being called in to discuss the situation and think about alternatives...

The school would be communicating with you waaaaaaaaay before it got to that point. No point leaving the child to struggle and be miserable - a good school doesn't want that any more than you do.

Oakmaiden · 24/09/2011 22:53

The school my children started at was like this, Chicken.

There was no selective process when the children start at kindergarten, but before moving into the Junior school at Year 3 they would have to fulfil the selctive criteria (which I think was less stringent for children who had been in the infant school than for children who were joining at Yr 3). Then of course there was common entrance etc to move into the senior school.

Yourefired · 24/09/2011 22:53

Yes. Just happened to someone I know. Twas done in the best possible taste.

mousymouse · 24/09/2011 22:54

they can and they do.
a friend had her child on a private school. her child was asked to leave after year 5 because of low grades.

throwawayforthisone · 24/09/2011 22:58

This happened at the school I went to. Usually in time that their exam results wouldn't affect the league tables. I believe it was usually suggested that they'd 'be happier elsewhere'. You had to get excellent gcse results to progress to 6th form too.

catsareevil · 24/09/2011 22:58

I have heard of my local private school doing this, and also not letting children sit exams that they are not likely to do well in.

Original poster
carriedababi · 24/09/2011 23:05

thanks for the replies, bloody hell, this was myback up plan if dd doesn't get into the state school we want.

i don't want her under taht much presure that if she doesn't perform shes out

it's a crazy situation state school wise, because theres one school, rated outstanding, and it's a fantastic school, of course everyone wants it. and the other schools are terrible.

i don't know what to do for the best

OP posts:
AgonyBeetle · 24/09/2011 23:11

It happened to someone I know, whose 9yo had had cancer treatment and missed quite a bit of school, and obviously fell behind a bit. The school refused to even let her sit the entrance exam for the secondary part. So not only did she have to cope with a potentially life-threatening illness and traumatic medical treatment, she didn't get the security of keeping her friends and her school environment either. The parents went in to see the head to ask them to reconsider. The mum was sobbing, the head was stony-faced.

The child was subsequently offered an 11+ place at another, also competitive and over-subscribed school in the same town, so clearly the illness hadn't affected her long-term academic ability.

I had to scrape my jaw off the floor when the mum recounted the details after the event. I know some competitive schools are pretty red in tooth and claw, but that was so far outside the boundaries of human decency that I wouldn't know where to start with it.

Original poster
carriedababi · 24/09/2011 23:17

bettle, that is disgusting.
so sorry for that little girl.

OP posts:
catsareevil · 24/09/2011 23:26

They want to perform well in league tables, and this is one way that they do it.

If you dont get in to the state school it might be cheaper to either move closer to the school, or close to another good secondary school.

Original poster
carriedababi · 24/09/2011 23:47

yes moving closer might be an option,even though we are only 0.4 miles away from the best school

it's just a crazy crazy situation

OP posts:
MirandaWest · 25/09/2011 00:47

Hasn't your DD just started reception? Many things can happen to schools in a few years - the excellent school may become less good and the currently less good school may become excellent. Until your DD is in about Year 5 or possibly Year 4 I would say that there is really no point thinking about this too much as there is too much that could change that you can't control.

goinggetstough · 25/09/2011 07:26

Beetle what a sad situation!
I think most private schools don't generally "kick out" children. In schools that go from 4 - 18 years some children may move on to other schools. A child that is assessed for a school at 4 may not develop into a very academic child as was hoped. Therefore at 7, 11, or 13 they may not be invited to apply or be given a place in the next stage of education. I can think of nothing worse (after the school had obviously tried to help the child) leaving a child in an unsuitable school. Some parents too ignore what the school is telling them and then appear surprised when their child is not given a place to continue. I have seen this happen more than once.
As Carried though is looking at secondary/senior schools from my experience it is even less likely to happen. When you join at 11 or 13 it will be stated what GCSE grades you need to obtain to stay in the sixth form. So everyone know what they are aiming for.

MindtheGappp · 25/09/2011 14:11

I think that it is unlikely to kick a child out if it is not in their best interests.

Times are tough for private schools and bums on seats is a priority.

They are far more likely to keep a child in school and the bend over backwards with individual tutoring and mentoring.

If a child is disruptive and affects the learning of others, then that is a different matter.

happygardening · 25/09/2011 14:21

Many top of the league table independent schools will ask a child to leave if their GCSE (IGCSE) results are not good enough. At my DS school you have to get 7 A* to stay on to do A (Pre U) levels. I've also heard of children not moving from the prep to the senior school because they were basically not clever enough.

wigglybeezer · 25/09/2011 14:26

It happened to the daughter of a good friend of mine, they didn't tell her until the last minute so her daughter had missed all the induction preparation at the local state schools, she was very upset, this was the school she had attended, infact she was on the FP commitee.

The school also throws you out before exams, you are not guided towards other local independent schools (there are not many on our area) you have to go to the local state school or FE college.

Its one of the reasons my DS's were not put in for the entrance exams, they are fairly bright but have dyslexia type issues. Its a shame as DS1 especially would have loved all the extra rugby and cadet corps.

many of the parents are alpha types who don't mind this tough approach, until it applies to their children.

Toodamnnosy · 25/09/2011 14:53

My friend's daughter was told that they had to resit their end of year exams (not public exams just school's own end of year exams) by October half term, and if the results had not improved dramatically the parents could choose to take her out voluntarily and they would pass a supporting report to next school, or she would be expelled.

wellwisher · 25/09/2011 15:01

Happened every year at my school, which was very academic and a real hothouse - always near the top of the league tables. As well as weeding out poor performers, they would take you off a GCSE course if they thought you weren't going to get a high grade, in order to preserve the 100% A* - C rate!

Must have been horrible for the affected students... certainly kept the rest of us on our toes.

Swipe left for the next trending thread